The 33rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 20, 1991. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Quincy Jones was the night's biggest winner, winning a total of six awards including Album of the Year.

In a contemporary review, Variety described the telecast was "one of the most unmemorable in memory" and that "This year's telecast was doomed from the moment Sinead O'Connor, the artist behind the year's most compelling record, announced that she would boycott the show because the awards celebrate commercialism." The review critiqued the performers stating that Garth Brooks stage set up resembled a "Noël Coward play", Billy Idol changed a lyric of "Cradle of Love" to state "This song is so cheesy" and that MC Hammer appeared to be wrapped in aluminium foil.

The review spoke positively about performance of En Vogue and Take 6 and the a cappella performance by Tracy Chapman.